These images of the rising sun were taken without a filter using an exposure of 1/4000 second. After some contrast adjustment in Adobe Lightroom you can clearly see what appears to be solar prominences. These are more
evident in a rising sun and are almost impossible to notice as the sun gains more elevation because of the intense glare of the sun. There have been several papers written on the topic of White Light Flares (WLF).

Rising plasma off the limb of the sun are called prominences not flares. Flares are a different phenomena. There may be several papers about white light flares but that would not apply to what you think you are seeing. Because you can see the same effects on the bottom side of the sun and through out the rest of the image I would guess this is scattered light from the lens.